Keeley Compressor Introduction to the World’s Finest Compressor

Thank you for your purchase of the finest hand-built compressor on the market today. For years now the Keeley Compressor has been rated the highest in many “shoot-outs” and has replaced the compressors of many studio pros. Those familiar with the Ross or Dyna-Comp will be at home with this pedal..., but the quality parts and sweeping improvements make this compressor a unique, high caliber design. We use precision components to keep the sound quality as close to the original input as possible. Metal film capacitors now take the place of harsh sounding ceramic capacitors. Metal film 1% resistors, Teflon wire, and silver solder are used throughout. Film capacitors and resistors are used in the audio circuits of many high-end components because of their ability to recreate the fine details of music. Tantalum capacitors are used for filtering and stabilizing. In addition, your compressor has two significant, defining features. First, it has a true bypass switch: a 3PDT, the only way to get true bypass in a switch. It is an expensive choice, but it was made to ensure that you have no tone loss when the effect is off. You will even be able to use it in bypass mode when the battery goes dead. Try that with any of your other effects! Second, there is the Keeley signature blue LED that lets you know when your compressor is on or off. Feel free to experiment as the folks at Guitar Player’s Magazine did. In fact, the Keeley Compressor won the Editors’ Pick Award, where they compared it to thousand dollar rack mount studio compressors. The innovators at Little Dawg Records have even mastered tracks with it! Carefully! Read more about this application in the Sustain section. I hope you enjoy all the thoughtful features put into your new compressor. Input: Standard signal input connection. It is possible to connect this pedal to the output of your overdrive/distortion pedal. I think it sounds best if you go from your guitar into a tube-sounding distortion and then into the compressor. Experiment and find out what variation gives you the tone or effect you are looking for. Make sure to unplug this jack when not in use. The circuit and battery are active until your cord is unplugged. Also, the main chip in the compressor, the CA3080, is designed for lowlevel signals only. The compressor will not work as well in the effects loop of an amplifier or after a pre-amp.

Output: Connect this to the input of your amplifier. It is also possible to send this output to a variety of other effects. Please experiment with effect placement in your signal chain to find the sound that defines your playing. I like the compressor after the main overdrive but before pedals you would use for solos or lead boosts. If you need more information about effects placement, please refer to that section on the second page. Generally, the compressor will sound better in some places than others, and it’s up to you to find your sound. That said, I still recommend you read the section about effects placement on the following page.

Sustain: Internal Attack Trim: You can use this control to give a sustain effect The internally located Attack with almost no increase in noise or high freTrim can add further control quency loss. A great starting point is with the for shaping your tone: from control in the 9 O’clock position. This is a great traditional compressor sounds place to start experimenting if you want to run such as the Ross or Dynathe compressor all of the time as a tone/level Comp to unique settings that shaper. You can get a nice, full effect if you run you may dream up. Typically, a Position indicates an this control in the 12 O’clock position. I like OFF position. Turn fully counterclockwise setting, this position for lead playing. It brings out the this up for a longer as delivered, will provide attack time. note detail. It is also great for funk style playthe traditional attack. For ing. It compresses the notes you may play too humbucker equipped guitars, loud and expands the notes you play too softly. try rotating the trim clockwise If you run the control to the 3 O’clock position and increase the attack until the or greater, you can get a radical sustain effect. pickups respond accordingly. Although this position does have some slight increased noise, it allows you to get feedback Where is the best on demand. It is truly impressive to get a nice, placement in the singing feedback at low playing levels. This setting is great for country style chicken pick- effects chain for the Keeley Compressor? ing or jam-band style lead playing. The conventional place for compressors has Earlier I mentioned using the compressor as a been that it’s the very first thing after your mastering tool. Please observe these precautions: guitar. However, over the past couple years It has to be used in a way that is almost off! Set I have convinced players to try it after their the sustain to off and adjusting the input to the main overdrive. The reason for this is that your compressor so that there is no distortion and a transition from clean to your main overdrive minimal amount of noise during soft parts. This will be pretty smooth and pro-sounding. Most importantly, though, place it before any lead is critical. boost pedals such as the Java Boost. Do not place the compressor at the end of your chain or after Level: effects such as delay and echo; it will affect the Use this control to match the bypass mode performance in a negative way. So, an example signal with the effected signal. You can also use chain might be this: guitar>compressor> this as a volume boost during solos. It provides BD-2>TS9>Java Boost>Fuzz Head>chorus> the ability to overdrive your amp if you choose. delay>reverb>amp. Or you can try this: To use the compressor as a lead boost, simply guitar>BD-2>compressor>TS9> other lead turn the sustain all of the way down, and then boost pedals. use the level control to drive your amp into a Contact Information: sweet overdrive tone. Robert Keeley, BSEE [email protected] 1-405-341-2025 1-866-8-go-rkfx (Toll Free) www.rkfx.com & www.robertkeeley.com